Phillip Fleshner

Phillip R. Fleshner, MD is the Director of Colorectal Surgery Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner's main clinical and research interests are directed towards optimizing outcomes and techniques in the surgical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Fleshner has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, including the Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Gut and the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

He received the Sherman Prize in 2021.

Nicholas P. McKenna, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and a colorectal surgeon in the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He completed his general surgery residency and colon and rectal surgery fellowship at Mayo Clinic. Dr. McKenna’s clinical and research interests focus on inflammatory bowel disease and quality improvement in colorectal surgery. He is also actively involved in education as an Associate Program Director of the Mayo Clinic Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship Program.

David Schwartzberg, MD is a double-board certified colorectal surgeon who specializes in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, including redo/corrective pelvic pouch surgery in the Center for Advanced IBD at Northwell Health. He completed his general surgery training at NYU & Bellevue Hospital, a colorectal fellowship at Cleveland Clinic and an complex IBD & J-pouch surgery fellowship at NYU's IBD Center.
He is currently at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and serves as the director of reoperative surgery & the intestinal fistula center.

Phillip R. Fleshner, MD is the Director of Colorectal Surgery Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner's main clinical and research interests are directed towards optimizing outcomes and techniques in the surgical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Fleshner has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, including the Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Gut and the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

He received the Sherman Prize in 2021.

Dr. Grossman is the Associate Clinic Chief of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and Co-Director of the Center for Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Robert N. Baldassano MD Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Grossman has dedicated his career to advancing the quality of clinical care and promoting a multidisciplinary approach for children and adolescents with IBD. He has led national committees for the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) and ImproveCareNow (ICN). He has been involved with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation for years, serving on the Board of Directors and the Chapter Medical Advisory Committee for the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley chapter, as well as serving as chair of the Pediatric Affairs Committee on the National Scientific Advisory Committee (NSAC). He has co-authored multiple research publications, is an editor of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease textbook, and frequently lectures at national scientific meetings.

Dr. Miguel Regueiro is the Enterprise Chief of Staff and Executive Vice President at Cleveland Clinic, and Professor in the Department of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Regueiro is the inaugural Chair holder of The Melody and Steve Golding Chair for Digestive Diseases. He served as the Global Chief for the Digestive Disease Institute from 2021 - 2026 before becoming Enterprise Chief of Staff. As Chief of Staff, he is responsible for shaping the healthcare strategy and vision for the national and international Cleveland Clinic sites. He oversees 6,000 physicians and 4.000 advanced practice providers across the enterprise.

Dr. Regueiro’s main clinical and research interest is Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) with a focus on the natural course and medical-surgical management of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He leads research on postoperative prevention of Crohn’s disease, as well as developing new models of healthcare, including the first-of-its kind specialty medical home for IBD.

Dr. Cohen is a Staff Physician and Co-Section Head and Clinical Director for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. Throughout his career, Dr. Cohen has merged clinical care with participation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) clinical research. His primary research interest has been centered on the safety of biologic medications in the peri-operative period for which he led PUCCINI, a large multi-center clinical study. Dr. Cohen has also been a site primary investigator on Phase 3 IBD pharmaceutical clinical trials and collaborative investigator initiated studies. In addition to his research interests, Dr. Cohen also has a strong commitment to IBD education. He has been a member of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Professional Education Committee and a co-founder and former chair of Rising Educators Academics and Clinicians Helping IBD (REACH-IBD); a special committee within the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America for trainees and junior faculty to promote collaboration, mentorship, and career advancement. The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation recognized him for his leadership with the Rising Star award in 2018. He currently serves on the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation NSAC as the Chair of Professional Membership. Dr. Cohen has also been an active member of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) serving on both the Education and Training Committee and Clinical Guidelines Committee.

Parambir S. Dulai, MD, is a board-certified gastroenterologist with clinical and research expertise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Dr. Dulai is a proud recipient of the 2022 Sherman Emerging Leader Prize by The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation that recognizes outstanding achievements in IBD. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University where he also serves as Director of Precision Medicine for the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Dr. Dulai completed his medical school training at Dayanand Medical College in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, and subsequently completed his internal medicine residency and chief residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA. He then went on to complete an NIH sponsored T32 research fellowship and IBD clinical fellowship at the University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. He spent an additional year of advanced training in clinical trials with Robarts Clinical Trials and in 2019 he was the recipient of the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) research scholar award focused on personalized medicine. He has a successful NIH funded research program focused on real world evidence generation, clinical trials, and integrating evolving translational technology into mechanism of action studies.

Phillip R. Fleshner, MD is the Director of Colorectal Surgery Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner's main clinical and research interests are directed towards optimizing outcomes and techniques in the surgical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Fleshner has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, including the Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Gut and the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

He received the Sherman Prize in 2021.

Dr. Christina Ha completed her internal medicine residency and fellowship at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and then received additional training as the Present-Levison Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Fellow at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Section and Associate Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic Arizona. Her clinical research interests focus on the impact of aging on the natural history of the inflammatory bowel diseases, especially the pathogenesis and natural history of late-onset IBD. She is also very involved in IBD related trainee educational initiatives and has served on multiple committees within the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, American College of Gastroenterology, and American Gastroenterological Association.

Dr. Fichera earned his M.D. from the Catholic University of Rome, completed General Surgery Residency at the University of Chicago and two year fellowship in laparoscopic and colorectal surgery at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He returned to the University of Chicago where he started and became the first Program Director of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Training Program. He moved to the University of Washington in July 2012 as chief of colorectal surgery and was appointed chief of the section of Gastrointestinal Surgery in 2014 and in 2016 the clinical director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. In November 2017 he moved to University of North Carolina as the Division Chief of Gastrointestinal Surgery. In September 2019 he became the Division Chief of Colorectal Surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas and the Surgery Safety and Quality Officer since July 2020. His clinical and research interest include colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease

Phillip R. Fleshner, MD is the Director of Colorectal Surgery Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner's main clinical and research interests are directed towards optimizing outcomes and techniques in the surgical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Fleshner has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, including the Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Gut and the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

He received the Sherman Prize in 2021.

Gastroenterologist with an interest in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Paulo Gustavo Kotze is Adjunct Senior Professor of Surgery at the Catholic University in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. He rcompleted his General Surgery training at the Evangelical University Hospital in Curitiba (2000). He also completed his senior Fellowship in Colorectal Surgery at the Clinics Hospital from the Federal University of Parana (2002). Dr. Kotze achieved his Masters' Degree on Surgery at the Catholic University in 2008 and joined the faculty of medicine at the same university in 2011. He achieved his PhD degree studying the influence of biological therapy on surgical outcomes in Crohn´s disease, in the University of Campinas, in São Paulo, Brazil (UNICAMP) in 2015. Dr. Kotze was also an IBD advanced visiting fellow in the IBD unit at the University of Calgary (Cumming school of medicine), Canada, for the period of 2017-2018. Dr. Kotze is an experienced IBD surgeon and author of 3 books, 250+ pubmed peer-reviewed articles and multiple book chapters focused on Crohn´s disease and ulcerative colitis. He has special interest in the fields of biological therapy, epidemiology and surgery in IBD. Dr. Kotze was formely a committee member of S-ECCO (surgeons of ECCO) from 2015-2018 and a member of the ECCO EduCOM (educational committee), 2018-2021. He is an active member from the International Organization of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD). Currently, he is Professor of the Health Sciences Postgraduate Program at the Catholic University of Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil. Dr Kotze is also a senior researcher for the National Brazilian Council of Research (CNPq).

Dr. Aline Charabaty is Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland and the Director of the IBD Program at the University of Maryland Medical center. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Crohn’s and Colitis 360 journal, and is past Vice-Chair of the AGA Research Foundation Executive Board, and past ACG Governor for Washington DC. Her work and advocacy were recognized by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Excellence in Medicine Award in 2020 , the ACG Diversity Equity and Inclusion Award in 2025, and the AGA Beacon of Hope Award in 2026. Dr Charabaty uses social media to amplify medical education in IBD and is the founder of @MondayNightIBD a CME platform on twitter for which she received the Healio Disruptive Innovator Award in 2019. Dr Charabaty is a strong advocate for diversity and the professional advancement of women in GI. She is the Co-Founder of Scrubs & Heels, a foundation focused on empowering women in GI with the leadership skills, networking and mentorship to achieve professional goals and growth.

Katherine Falloon, MD, is a staff gastroenterologist at the Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She is also the co-director of the intestinal ultrasound program at the Cleveland Clinic. Her clinical focus is in caring for patients in inflammatory bowel disease and her research interest is in extra-intestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease. She is currently leading the Cohort for Healing Skin, Eye, and Extra-Intestinal Manifestations (CHASE-EIM), a multi-disciplinary research consortia related to extra-intestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease. She has received funding from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, Pfizer, and the Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute's Chief Innovation and Research Award.

Phillip R. Fleshner, MD is the Director of Colorectal Surgery Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Shierley, Jesslyne, and Emmeline Widjaja Chair in Colorectal Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner's main clinical and research interests are directed towards optimizing outcomes and techniques in the surgical management of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Fleshner has written numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, including the Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Gut and the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Fleshner received his bachelor's degree from McGill University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the Lahey Clinic in Boston.

He received the Sherman Prize in 2021.

Hans Herfarth is Director of the Multidisciplinary IBD Center at the University of North Carolina. His primary research interests focus on the development and evaluation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). His work is particularly centered on the conceptualization and conduct of investigator-initiated clinical studies in IBD, supported by funding from the NIH, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, and private and industry-associated foundations. Dr. Herfarth has authored more than 350 journal articles, book chapters, and review articles related to IBD.